Saturday, November 19, 2016

The central government has said that it has no plans to impose any limits on the fare charged by airlines in India.

The clarification has come in the context of demands in certain quarters that airlines will be the next to see curbs on surge pricing after such limits were placed on taxi services such as Uber.

Last week, the Karnataka High Court had dismissed a petition by Uber that had argued that state governments did not have the right to control surge pricing by cab companies.

Like airlines, Uber and Ola have different fares depending on the demand. When demand is higher, so are the fares.

States like Karnataka and Maharashtra have placed curbs on the maximum fares that taxis can charge. Karntaka, for example, has imposed a limit of Rs 19.5 per km for an air-conditioned cab and Rs 14.5 per km for non-ac cabs.

There was speculation that since airlines also work on the same model, they too would see limits placed on the airfares.

A ticket between Bangalore to Delhi can vary from around Rs 2,500 in times of low demand to as much as Rs 40,000 in times of heavy demand.
18/11/16 S Nambrath/RTN.Asia